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Bilquis v. The State of Maharashtra and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 496Decided 11 May 2018
Civil Appeal No. 5008 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar

Background

The claimant's roughly 9-hectare landholding in Akola district, Maharashtra, was acquired in 1986 for building a percolation tank. The Reference Court had enhanced her compensation to Rs.1,62,500 per hectare plus Rs.1,200 per orange tree (for 325 trees) and other amounts, but the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) slashed this to Rs.50,000/Rs.9,500 per hectare for irrigated/dry land and scrapped the orange-tree compensation entirely.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the High Court had ignored substantial unrebutted evidence, from the claimant's witnesses and official records, showing the land was 85-90% irrigated with a perennial water source, and that there were genuinely over 300 fruit-bearing orange trees on it. It restored compensation closer to the Reference Court's figures (Rs.1,50,000 per hectare, plus Rs.10,000 for fencing/trees), while slightly reducing the orange-tree multiplier from twenty years' purchase to ten years' purchase (Rs.600 instead of Rs.1,200 per tree). The appeal was allowed and the High Court's judgment set aside.

Lesson Learnt

In land acquisition cases, well-documented and un-contradicted evidence of a landholder's crops, irrigation, and farming income carries real weight: an appellate court cannot simply discount it without pointing to contrary evidence.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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